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Fans cheer after Texas A&M's Myles Garrett was selected with the number one overall pick by the Cleveland Browns during the first round of the 2017 NFL football draft, Thursday, April 27, 2017, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

First-round NFL Draft ratings plummeted in Dallas-Fort Worth. But it's not really a surprise. The Cowboys drop from the fourth pick overall to No. 28 has to be the most likely reason.

D-FW scored a 4.4 for ESPN and a 1.3 for NFL Network on Thursday night. In 2016, ESPN pulled a 5.5 and NFLN earned a 2.7.

Nationally, the 56-major market rating for ESPN was a 4.8, up a smidge from 2016's 4.7. Over at NFL, the rating was up to a 1.8 from last year's 1.6.

For the fourth consecutive year, Cleveland, which finished with three first-round picks, was the No. 1-rated ESPN market with a hefty 12.6 rating. Philadelphia, the draft's host city, was No. 2, at 9.1. Columbus, home of Ohio State, followed at 9.0. Southeastern Conference markets, in the SEC-heavy first-round: Greenville, S.C. (8.7) and Birmingham, Ala. (7.6) rounded out the top five.

More from the draft

-- ESPN anchor Trey Wingo offered this tidbit just before the Cowboys picked: Seems the crowd in Philadelphia broke into an extemporaneous but thunderous "Dallas sucks" chant as it waited for the draft to start.

"I don't know how that happened," Wingo said. "But they were ready."

Jerry Jones 'envious' of NFL draft crowd in Philadelphia, wants event in North Texas next year

-- Over on NFLN, anchor Rich Eisen reported that Eagles loyalists naturally comprised the No. 1 fan base at the draft. But Cowboys fans were neck-and-neck with New York Giants fans, from just up the road, for the second largest contingent.

-- Lead NFLN analyst Mike Mayock on the Cowboys pick, the late-blooming Taco Charlton: "This kid has length, power and athletic ability ... One year starter which makes me question where he was before that ... If he played like that, the way he played against Ohio State every single week of the year, he would have been a top 10 or 12 pick."

-- Wingo on Vidaunte "Taco" Charlton: "His mother and grandmother gave him the nickname 'Taco' but he hated the nickname. In fact, he wouldn't eat tacos until he got to college."

Around the Horn

Dallas-Fort Worth averaged a 0.2 rating for 33 first round games of the NHL playoffs on NBCSN. That translates into 5,427 homes. The rating was tied for 44th out of the 56 major markets. It tied with non-NHL markets Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Birmingham and Atlanta. The playoffs did somewhat better on KXAS (Channel 5) where for six games the rating averaged 0.8 (21,708 homes) and ranked 37th... ESPN2 has three Dallas Wings games on its 16-game WNBA schedule. By contrast, the champion Los Angeles Sparks will make seven appearances. Ditto the runner-up Minnesota Lynx ... Mike Tirico, whose NBC portfolio is ever expanding, has been named NBC's host for its horseracing Triple Crown coverage. He replaces Tom Hammond.